


And I Must Sing

by Loremaiden



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Community: watsons_woes, Great Hiatus, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 11:46:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1897794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loremaiden/pseuds/Loremaiden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watson plants his banner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And I Must Sing

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to JWP #4 (Poem Prompt) on Watson's Woes.
> 
> Words! book-words! what are you?  
> Words no more, for hearken and see,  
> My song is there in the open air—and I must sing,  
> With the banner and pennant a-flapping.
> 
> \--Walt Whitman

After Watson returned from Switzerland, he locked his journals away. He refused the gentle suggestions of his friends, the eager requests of his readers, the desperate pleas of his editor. What once gave him joy now hurt far too much. He threw all his energies into his medical practice instead, picking up his pen only to write out prescriptions.

When Colonel Moriarty's first public letter lamented the loss of his beloved brother to his family, the scientific community, and the nation, Watson glanced at his dust-covered writing-desk for the first time in two years.

When the Colonel's second letter insulted Watson's “florid and cheaply melodramatic” writing style, his fingers twitched with the desire to pen a response.

When the third letter dared to paint the Professor as the innocent victim of “a cold-blooded madman vigilante and his gullible lickspittle”, Watson nearly yanked the locked desk drawer completely out of its housing in his anger.

Three days later, _The Adventure of the Final Problem_ was released for the world to read, Watson's banner firmly planted. He had failed to protect his dearest friend's life; he vowed to at least protect Holmes' honor in death.


End file.
